Plus System

Visa U.S.A. Buys Plus System: The charge card company said it bought Plus System Inc., a privately held cash card issuer, giving its customers expanded access to cash machines. By 1996, all cardholders of both companies will have access to a global ATM network that accepts both Visa and Plus cards at more than 250,000 locations in more than 100 countries. San Francisco-based Visa has 318 million cardholders and Plus has more than 200 million.

Visa U.S.A. Buys Plus System: The charge card company said it bought Plus System Inc., a privately held cash card issuer, giving its customers expanded access to cash machines. By 1996, all cardholders of both companies will have access to a global ATM network that accepts both Visa and Plus cards at more than 250,000 locations in more than 100 countries. San Francisco-based Visa has 318 million cardholders and Plus has more than 200 million.

Gemstar International Group Ltd., the Pasadena-based inventor of the VCR-Plus system for recording TV programs, reported a fiscal third-quarter net income of $32.0 million, or 13 cents per share, up from $18.8 million, or 8 cents, a year ago. Revenue rose to $61.8 million from $41.5 million, a trend the company attributed in part to an $18-million fee resulting from the resolution of a dispute with General Instrument. Gemstar also is buying TV Guide Inc.

Gemstar International Group of Pasadena said it will license its electronic program guide technology to America Online. Financial terms of the multiyear agreement were not disclosed. The No. 1 online service provider will use the Gemstar technology to make program guides for AOL TV, an interactive service due out next year. A spokeswoman for Dulles, Va.-based AOL said the licensing deal is not exclusive.

A federal judge has ordered Wilkinson Sword Inc. to drop all advertising boasts--including the query "Who offers the best shave known to man?"--that claim that its Ultra Glide razor is better than a model made by rival Gillette Co. U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood granted Gillette's request for a permanent injunction against Wilkinson's claims of "shaving smoothness superiority" of the Ultra Glide compared to Gillette's Atra Plus system.

Camarillo's Zymed Inc., which develops cardiac monitoring technologies, has received FDA clearance for a compact cardiac event recorder called HomeTrak Plus. The device is designed to capture extended events on an electrocardiogram in ambulatory patients. The HomeTrak device is about the size of a pager and is designed for cardiac patients with symptoms that cannot be captured using standard methods. Zymed officials believe the device will be prescribed for use of up to 30 days.

For many people, trips to crowded shopping malls, airports or restaurants this holiday season weren't complete without a stop at an automated teller machine. Representatives of one of the world's largest ATM networks, Plus System Inc. of Denver, predicted that between Dec. 1 and New Year's Day consumers will use the bank machines twice as much as in the same period last year, largely for withdrawals.

Twelve states including New York and California filed suit in Manhattan federal court today charging the Visa and MasterCard companies with conspiring to monopolize the potentially multibillion-dollar debit card market. The two companies allegedly undermined competition through a joint venture, called Entree, and by acquiring the nation's two largest automated teller machine networks, New York Atty. Gen. Robert Abrams said. The two ATM networks, Cirrus System Inc. and Plus System Inc.